Friday Night

I'm bugged that I don't have any more pictures than this.  Mike and I went with the boys to cheer Allie on as she danced in the dance that she choreographed with another cheer leader.

It was a half time dance and it was so cute!  I have it on video, but these are the only pictures I have of the night.

 Mike has been asking her to add the Church Lady's "superior dance" (from Saturday Night Live) every time she has any control over the dances.  She tells him over and over that people wouldn't get it and that the moves are too slow for the fast pace of the dances they have to do.  So, at the end of this dance (and yet another dance that he didn't see the Superior dance performed), Allie got Mike's attention and did it just for him on the sidelines.  The wide smile she had for her dad was really cute, but I didn't get any pictures. 

We left at half time because the boys were tired and Nate had an early game the next day.  The Bobcats were losing to Orem high.  They were our high school's rival and they were good 30 years ago, so I wasn't surprised that they were beating us.  I was surprised to come home and hear the news that the Bobcats had pulled off a win!

Fun night for these kids for sure.

Football Saturday

We are still neck deep in football season.  The boys both have practice every day and games every Saturday.  We go to the Sky View games to watch Allie cheer on Friday nights, so we're doing all the football all the time.  It's good though.  I keep asking Mike to tell me all the things because until this year, I didn't really even know what position my boys played. I used to go to the games to watch people...not the athletes. :)                            

Nate is 21 closest to the camera 

Nate's game was super early in the morning in Brigham City. He played receiver on offence and corner on defense. As far as I could tell, he held all his blocks and did well. 

He caught his third reception of the season too. He's 3-0 in catching the balls thrown at him in a game now.  It was a thrill to find that I had my camera in my hands and got the picture of the catch too. He got far enough for it to be a first down so that's exciting.

They won 57-0

                                       

Jason played offensive and defensive lineman.  He got a few tackles and a few pancakes (when they block so well they're knocked on their butts).  Mike is still talking about the pancake in the first play of the game.  I missed seeing it because I was getting settled in my seat, but I guess it was pretty awesome. 

It was fun to see Jason be able to play so many defensive plays. I loved to watch him break through his blocks and make a beeline for the QB every time.

He got through his blocks a lot and then one time he chased the QB down followed him and tackled him.  It was fun to watch for sure.  He's a big kid and he's aggressive so I can imagine it's scary to see him coming for them. :)

Jason is #97

                                                                                                                                    

                                         

I thought this was a fun picture too because he gave it a huge effort to block the kick.

                                       


They won 41-0.  It's sad to see them demoralize a team, but it's also fun to watch them play.  They don't always get a whole lot of play time if we're not winning. We've been completely whooped before too so I guess what comes around goes around.

Dinner Prep

The boys helped me with dinner prep today.

Jason helped before church and was completely grossed out by the texture of the pork roast, but was a willing participant.  I thought his choice of apron was funny. (why did he bypass the Harry Potter aprons?)

They both shucked corn and I wrote down the conversation...

 Nate: I'm the head shucker in the family.  Remember how much I used to love shucking corn? 

Me: Yep.  You were a great shucker for sure.

Nate: That was before I realized it was a chore.

Homecoming Dance

Allie went to Homecoming with Dawson Summers.  I thought she looked beautiful in her green dress. 

Dawson is 6'5" so she could wear her tallest shoes and still look short. 

 For their day date, they went to do mud go cart racing. 

                                      

                                    

                                     

They also made their own pizzas for their dinner.

She has a fun group of friends!

Homecoming Game

Mike got back from Star Valley just in time for us to load up and go to the game.  The boys got into their jerseys to support the team.

I don't have many good pics of Allie tonight because it got dark fast and I never found a good place to stand and take pics.  So she's a base on the right of this frame.  

She sure is a beauty out there!

We went over to the visitor side of the stadium after half time to sit by my friend, Nancy, who was there watching her daughter cheer.  It was fun to see the Sky View crowd from that perspective.  The stands were crammed full till the end of the game.  It was a bit of a nail biter.  There was less than one second on the clock and Mountain Crest went in to kick a field goal.  Their kicker is really good, so Mountain Crest fans were just sure that they were going to tie things up.  But it went too much to the left and Sky View was elated to have won their Homecoming game.  The boys loved watching and it was a great night to be out enjoying football.  Am I becoming a fan?

 

Sam's Friends

We have met up with Sam's heart friends for 15 years now (Diana and I brought Lisa in 13 years ago). We used to meet up often, but it became just once a summer for the last 10 years or so.  This summer was crazy busy and we didn't make time to get together until today.  We met up for lunch without the kids. With Jake on a mission and the others getting too old and busy, we were just glad to be able to get together as moms.  We talked about our kiddos and caught up on life.  The time passed quickly and it wasn't enough, but we did take a picture and feel like teenagers with our .5 shot. :) 

I'm so grateful that Merideth, Sam, and Cale brought us together!  They're friends that I probably wouldn't have stumbled upon any other way and they're ones that I love and always will. So thanks kiddos!

Sam

 15 years today.  Cute little Sam baby came into our lives and changed us all.  It's so crazy to think he'd be a freshman.  Allie would be giving him rides to school.  All the little freshman girls would be buttering her up to introduce them to her cute little brother (how would he not be the most handsome freshman at the school?!) 

I met someone a few months ago who is carrying a baby with a terminal diagnosis.  I was able to cry with her and tell her about Sam and the wonderful and also agonizing parts of having him come to our family. I just went down the rabbit hole of reading his blog.  It's crazy how memory works. I really don't remember writing most of those things. I'm so grateful for the record. 

This blog has been a blessing for my family.  The kids love to look back at it and I love reminding myself of the things that consumed my thoughts and made me the person I am today. I always resolve to continue, but I also choose other things that keep me away from writing.  I really need to be better.

Back to Sam...I love that he still has an impact on people.  Allie was in Africa, visiting a woman who was living in very humble circumstances and as Allie visited with her, she knew her brother was there with her.

As I talked to my new friend who will be having her baby in a matter of a few weeks, I could tell her that I wish she didn't have to go through this trial.  I could tell her that I wished her baby could have been healed.  I could tell her all those things, but I loved that I could tell her that I wouldn't change a thing about my experience with Sam.

I wouldn't change that my kids have grown up knowing that Heaven is real. They know that Sam still lives. They have felt him check in with them and bring them comfort.

They know that when they are feeling weak, they have a brother who is cheering them on.  

We all know that Jesus is our Savior. We know that He knows our pains and cheers us on in all that we do. But how lucky are we to know that our cute Sam is there too. I like to picture him taking friends to listen as Jake teaches discussions in the Philippines.  

I like to picture him meeting the people we do temple work for. I like to imagine him being proud of his siblings when they go to the temple or speak in church.

I love knowing that he got to be there to say hello to Grandpa Joe when he moved on from this life. He probably dragged my dad along with him so he could have both his grandpas together again.

I love that he knows Heidi. 

I just feel so blessed to have had him in my life and to know that he's still with us and always will be.

So happy birthday Sam boy!  I love you so much and am so glad you came into our lives 15 years ago!